Content marketing has become an industry must-have. Whether it is brand awareness you’re aiming at, acquiring customers or simply starting to rank on search engines for the products and services you offer, there is no way to avoid this inbound marketing tactic.

But as businesses across different industries catch up with this marketing trend, marketers are struggling to get their content pieces noticed. As a matter of fact, some of the best and most informative pieces in 2016 have gone ignored or did not reach as big an audience as they should have!

Call it the lack of visuals or the lack of original visuals that the readers hadn’t seen before, but 2016 saw many content marketing strategies falling flat on their face.

But here are a few reasons why you should make creating original visual content a priority this year.

1. Quick to grab the target market’s attention

The best thing about using visuals in marketing is the fact that they grab a consumer’s attention almost instantly – of course, when discovered on the right channels. With almost 1.5 billion individual pieces of content being uploaded on the internet daily, it is vital for marketers to look into ways to fall into their target audience’s line of sight before anyone else! And what better than visual content when it comes to the same?

2. Visual content is processed faster by the brain

The whole idea of creating content is to educate the customer, make him aware of your brand and what you have to order, and of course drive them towards a conversion. The human brain is wired to process visual content 60,000 times faster than any form of textual content – yes, no matter how many smaller paragraphs you break a long piece of content into, visuals still win when it comes to consumption.

3. Human communication is majorly visual

According to various studies, 93% of all human communication is nonverbal. In face, 90% of the information that enters the brain is nonverbal too. And science is proof enough to why you should focus on creating visual content to become a part of your target audience’s conversations. Want to be shared on social media and chat apps? Visuals! Want them to understand what you offer? Of course, visuals!

4. All those visuals will get you a whole lot of views

When you become a part of the ongoing conversations of your target audience and the information you share gets processed quicker, you’re bound to get more number of shares in their circles. According to studies, content pieces using compelling and informative visuals generated 94% more views than those that didn’t.

5. Visuals are sure to get you more inbound links

Content marketing isn’t just about creating and publishing content on your own blog. It is about taking it to your target readers via the channels they are most likely to consume content from. This is where the importance of inbound links comes in. Visuals are more likely to go viral in the digital space – but of course, it is either the funny ones that get shared the most or the most informative ones that will bring in a steady stream of inbound links.

6. They are the most effective way to stimulate emotions

Ever heard of how colours stimulate emotions? Well, the same applies to visual content. When you see a picture of a dog you’re more likely to go all mushy as compared to reading the word ‘cute dog’. The only way to nudge your prospects towards conversion, is to stimulate emotions. Work on getting a reaction from them instead.

Everything makes a whole lot of sense now, right?

Visual content is going to dominate the digital industry and if you want to make your mark in the target market, you need to join in the game starting today.

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Vanhishikha Bhargava

Content Marketer at Exit Bee. Most of the times found trying to create compelling copies for blogs and digital campaigns, keeping a watch on what's happening on social media or ranting on Twitter. At all other times, not found.

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